Technical Difficulties With Automated Blog Posts

[20100131] The blog is still refusing mail from gmail. I've stopped the forwarders. When the mail server stops trying to deliver mail (probably by the 5th). I'll try another strategy.
I'm trying to find the equilibrium between Google News Alerts, Gmail and Blogger to permit automated posting of Google News Alerts to the blog so I can have them for reference and work on other things. My goal is not to focus on one news topic, but to have the varied topics in the news feeds automatically posted in the blog daily or weekly because I can capture more unique data that way.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

irinnews
GOZ BEIDA, 6 January 2010 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Chad is identifying pregnant women in refugee camps who have had their genitalia cut, in order to better prepare for potential complications, according to UNHCR and its medical partners. The exercise is part of efforts in the camps to tackle the health fallout of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) as well as prevent new cutting. Since September 2009 heath clinic workers at the Djabal camp in eastern Chad started recording how many prenatal patients had been cut; for September it was 22 among 330 women. "This helps us identify at-risk pregnancies because women with closed vaginas [resulting from FGM/C] can tear while giving birth," camp health director Nassourou Drassadou told IRIN.

Friday, January 22, 2010

When I was "circumcised" I was five or six, but it happens to girls as young as four. It starts as a ceremony – the girl is bought clothes, gold earrings and bangles. She has henna put on her hands and feet: the preliminaries are regarded as a celebration where she is the centre of attention.

But later they take her and put her in a gadha, which is shaped like a deep dish. They lay her across it and hold her legs open; there are often three people holding her very tight when she's on the gadha, two holding her legs and hands, and one holding her chest and head.

The equipment is handmade: a sharp curved knife which is not sterilised. And the girl is given no anaesthetic. It is usually mostly women in attendance. They leave a little hole for urination. There are no stitches; they treat the wound with herbs, salt and water. It bleeds a lot and the victim is in great pain. I was horribly frightened and crying. The "ceremony" takes as little as 20 minutes or as long as an hour, depending on how much the girl struggles.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The AustralianPOLICE are considering laying a further 24 charges against a NSW doctor who is already facing 69 charges of aggravated sexual assault and female genital mutilation.
Graeme Stephen Reeves, 59, a former obstetrician from Bega on the NSW South Coast, was originally facing 17 charges, including aggravated sexual assault, indecent assault, female genital mutilation, and grievous bodily harm offences, after being charged by police in September 2008.
Last month Sex Crimes Squad detectives laid an additional 52 charges in relation to further allegations of sexual assault, indecent assault, and grievous bodily harm, putting his March trial date for the previous offences in doubt.

Instead of praying, or being "skeptical" about praying, do something useful and give your time or money to some reputable relief organization. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS, AND MONEY TALKS.
Thanks in advance.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

AllAfrica. comKigali — Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Lesotho and Sierra Leone have numerous cases of female genital mutilation in Africa.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) sometimes called female circumcision or female genital cutting involves the cutting of the girl's genitals in order to curb their sexual desire and preserve their sexual honour before marriage.It comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It has no health benefits and harms girls and women in many ways.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

This is Hanna Abera. She is seven. Her mother and grandmother wanted to slice off part of her genitals. But she was saved by an extraordinarily brave intervention from her aunt after a British charity launched a programme of education on the consequences of female circumcision – which is still widely practised throughout parts of Africa and the Middle East.

No one knows how many women are subjected to the procedure but it is thought that over two million procedures are performed every year. Amnesty International estimates that over 130 million women worldwide have been affected by some form of what it calls female genital mutilation.

Monday, January 18, 2010

First, when I say that the marriage of nine-year-old girls in today’s Britain (and the rest of the EU, for that matter) is unsurprising, my statement is based on my own 17 years of experience in the field of immigration: forms of assault based on tradition and religion – including child marriage, forced marriage, genital mutilation, so-called honor-related offenses such as rape and murder – have become established here as a result of immigration, mostly from Muslim countries.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

MyWestTexas.com
So while Census Day, when all responses are due, won’t arrive until April 1, local workers already are preparing to reach Midland’s population groups. It launched a faith-based initiative outreach Friday asking local churches to urge members to participate in the Census. It also has partnered with Midland Independent School District and Midland College to recruit potential employees and to spread the word the 10-question survey should be arriving in mail boxes starting in March.
...
“You’d be surprised how many people don’t even know we have a Census,” McBride said.

The Census is important, McBride said, because its numbers help determine how about $300 billion in federal funds are awarded each year. It also determines the number of representatives a state will have in the U.S. House and is useful in state and community planning that ranges from redistricting — as will occur in Texas during the next legislative session — to building new roads and schools.

This is a project that was derived from the "Unpacking the Atonement" project. There is a need to define what "Accuracy" and "Credibility" are in normative standards. This project will attempt to derive a method that can be used to assign a credibility value to Textual Information that can be compared to a normative standard derived by the application of the method initially of up to 10 textual information sources. The project will be carried out in english from a "Western" viewpoint.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

ChicagoBreakingNews.com
A Shorewood Catholic priest who parishioners described as a "very holy man" apparently tried to kill himself by jumping from the balcony of a shuttered downtown Joliet church Wednesday as Kane county investigators began looking into allegations he molested a 13-year-old boy, authorities said.

BBC
The White House has dismissed as "stupid" comments by evangelist broadcaster Pat Robertson suggesting that quake-struck Haiti was cursed.
Spokesman Robert Gibbs said he was amazed by the remarks.

During a broadcast on his Christian Broadcasting Network, Mr Robertson suggested the Haiti's earthquake was divine retribution.

He said Haiti had sworn a pact with the devil when it freed itself from French colonial rule.

The White House said the comments were completely inappropriate."It never ceases to amaze, that in times of amazing human suffering, somebody says something that could be so utterly stupid," Mr Gibbs said.

Friday, January 15, 2010

A former Anglican minister is facing historical sexual offences after a woman came forward and reported alleged abuse.
Meurig Pari Lloyd, a 79-year-old Chatham man, is charged with two counts of rape, two counts of gross indecency, two counts of intercourse with a girl under 14 and indecent assault on a female. Lloyd is scheduled to appear in court March 16.
Det. Jim Niven of the Chatham-Kent Police Service's major crime unit said the alleged incidents happened more than 40 years agoThe crimes allegedly took place inside St. Paul's Anglican Church, Holy Trinity Church and a private residence.The complainant, who resides in Chatham-Kent, recently told police of incidents she says happened when she was between the ages of eight and 15. Niven said it's not uncommon for a sexual assault victim to wait decades before coming forward.

The girl, Patricia, had practised witchcraft for five years and, practically overturned the fortunes of her family.

She was exorcised by Prophet Michael Osei of the Ebenezer Healing Church, Kasoa, after she delivered a live snake in the presence of hundreds of worshippers during an all-night service at the church's premises last month.

God revealed to the holy man that the spiritual pot belonging to Pat in her hometown, Achiase, would have to be exhumed before the witchcraft spirit allegedly given to her by a grandmother, would be totally off her.

Opposition came from the witches' camps in the area and the evil ones, according to the prophet, mounted a full spiritual and physical attack on him and his prayer warriors who went with him.

"When we reached the town, the first thing I saw was a 10-year-old-boy who was playing with his colleagues in an open space. He was walking about upside down, that is, his head was on the ground, his legs high in the air with fire coming out from his backside (anus).

Thursday, January 14, 2010

This is a test of the googledocs forms feature. It allows you to create questionaires and saves the responses in a spreadsheet.
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Eyewitness News
Zimbabwe police have been co-opted to try to force a religious sect to have its children vaccinated against measles.
Members of an apostolic sect have been locking their sick children in huts or hiding them in the hills to evade vaccination.
The Health Ministry said at least 41 people have died of measles, many of them children, since the outbreak began last month.
Members of the Johannes Marange sect’s beliefs allow them only to pray and use holy water to treat measles.

Irin Plus News
MAGADI, 29 December 2009 (PlusNews) - Attempts to promote HIV awareness among Kenya's Maasai community have often foundered on the community's unwillingness to accept externally driven change; but a new initiative is using Maasai 'morans', or warriors, to spread the word.
"The Maasai are very traditional people and the best way to reach them is to go in without trying to dilute their culture - we give them free space to learn by using cultural systems to integrate reproductive health education," said Peter Ngura, programme manager for a nomadic youth project of the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), a health and development NGO.
"Because I have been taught about the dangers of sex without a condom and circumcizing girls and beating women, I have made it my duty to tell the same to my fellow 'morans'," he told IRIN/PlusNews. "There are things we have done like cutting women [female genital mutilation/cutting] but I think there haven't been valid reasons for doing it."

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The White Coat Underground
Being a physician and a father, I keep an eye out for news about childhood vaccinations. I've always been concerned about local statutes that allow kids to be admitted to school unvaccinated, especially when all that is required is an affirmation or a letter from a doctor or religious figure. This not only endangers these individual children but also others. As the rates of vaccination drop vaccine-preventable diseases regain a foothold.

Philly.com
Through a broken blind, a bizarre scene of animal sacrifice was visible yesterday inside the otherwise completely closed front porch of a Feltonville house.
There were bones and feathers arranged in a ritualistic pile. There were bloody knives and a machete, figurines of African or Caribbean design, candles and incense.
On Sunday, Pennsylvania SPCA officers used a warrant to search the property after receiving a tip that two emaciated dogs were being kept at the house, in the 4800 block of North Front Street.They found the dogs, but only after confronting an elaborate altar and the bones of possibly several hundred animals that had been killed, apparently as part of Santeria - a combination of African religions and Catholicism that originated among slaves in the Caribbean.

EmpowerHer
The Ugandan Parliament unanimously passed a bill in the beginning of December, 2009, that bans female circumcision which is also known as female genital mutilation, or FGM.According to the United Press International, people who are convicted of performing FGM will have to spend up to 10 years in prison and will face life sentences in those cases where the girl dies from this brutal procedure. The Ugandan Parliament is considering an amendment that would give compensation to the victims of this form of mutilation.

cocorioko.net
Article 21 of the African Charter is on the rights and welfare of a child, protecting him/her against harmful social and cultural practices and this includes the elimination of all harmful practices affecting the welfare, dignity normal growth and development of the child.
In Africa about 140 million girls have undergone female genital mutilation (or circumcision as others would want to call it) and 2 million are subjected to it every year. Several basic human rights are violated by the procedure. These primarily include the right of physical integrity, the right to freedom from violence and discrimination and in most severe cases, the right to life.FGM is an irreversible operation that removes part or all of a girl's external genital organs. It's performed on women but mostly done on girls between the ages of 4 and 12. The practice is performed in various ways which include just the removal of the clitoris; removal of the clitoris and surrounding labia; infibulations –where all the external genitalia are removed and the opening is stitched so that only a small hole remains; a variety of unclassified traumatic procedures of cutting, stretching or piercing performed on the external genitalia, such as cauterization by burning of the clitoris and tissue surrounding the opening of the vagina.

In addition to the above, research done by World Health Organisation involving 30,000 African women found that 'circumcised' women were 31% more likely to have a caesarean delivery, 66% higher chances of having a baby that needed to be revived and 55% more likely to have a child who died before or after birth. In addition to the physical complications, there are psychological and sexual impacts including severe trauma, depression and/or frigidity.

"Unpacking" The Atonement Project
[The questionaire in the lower part of the article was an attempt to define some terms. Feel free to try your hand at filling in the questionnaire in the bottom portion and join the discussion. I'd like to get feedback from Adherents to other religions, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, etc]

One of the theist commenters saidThe atonement gives God the ability to have justice completely fulfilled while allowing him to be merciful. If we repent of our sins, the justice has already been fulfilled by Christ so God can fully forgive the transgression without the need for added punishment. You don't have to use the atonement, free agency, but it is available for all. Without the atonement it is impossible to have a perfect God.

The Post
The incident took place in a district known for gold mining—Obuasi in the Ashanti Region. The "wizard" in question is a 17-year-old boy I will not name for ethical reasons even though he is named in the news report. Apparently, he was sitting on top of a tree in a forest when a James Ankrah, 37, opened fire on him with a shotgun, wounding him in both hands and his shoulders.

The only evidence of witchcraft was villager suspicion, no more.But the facts are that the boy is still in hospital and his assailant is cooling his heels in a police cell awaiting trial for attempted murder.
I wondered: what fate awaits the teenager when he returns to his village? For sure, there will be no welcoming committee to drape a garland of flowers round his neck when he is discharged. Instead he might find a lynch mob, which is not uncommon in this part of the world.

In the same edition, The Spectator regaled readers with another bizarre report of an 11-year-old witch who was exorcised by a prophet from the Ebenezer Healing Church to a small village, also in the Ashanti Region. The prophet also exhumed a "spiritual pot" containing a snake which belonged to the girl. According to the report, she'd used the pot to impoverish the village and to cause the businesses of family members to fail.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Foodconsumer.org
The Resolution urges State and Federal legislators in Hawaii "to amend vaccine laws to include medical, religious, and philosophical exemptions from any vaccine program," including those declared urgent by health officials.

aljazeera.net
Dozens of villagers in the Kenyan district of Kisii are falling prey to superstitious groups accusing them of witchcraft.
The poverty-stricken western district, known as Kenya's sorcery belt, has seen an increase in mob attacks on individuals and even killings.The poor and elderly in particular are being targeted.
Three months ago, a group of youths tortured five suspected witches before setting them on fire.
Joseph Ondiek's 65-year-old mother was one of those killed. He says says he and his family are living in constant fear and cannot even think about getting justice for their mother's killing.

thejc.com
A renowned Israeli master of kabbalah, Rabbi Dovid Batzri, has attempted to remove a dybbuk, or disembodied spirit, from a Brazilian man via the internet.A video posted on Charedi website ladaat.net, shows Rabbi Batzri, surrounded by dozens of supporters, reciting kabbalistic verses and praying for the exorcism of the dybbuk. He connected with the possessed man via Skype.According to another Charedi site, kikar.net, the story began when a Brazilian yeshivah student started shouting in shul that he could "smell many sins" and that "the end is very near".Although he could only speak Portuguese, he was yelling in Hebrew and Yiddish, and "his lips did not move". The commotion caused the women of the unnamed synagogue to flee.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

JerusalemPostPeres also came out strongly against ethnic or religious discrimination in Israel, declaring that "every expression of discrimination should be crossed out."
The Interior Ministry must make sure that young people of all faiths have the same opportunities to acquire higher education, he said, mindful that many young students from minority communities have difficulty in getting past security checkpoints to attend institutions of higher learning.
...
Theophilos was diplomatic in his references to the Israeli authorities, specifically in relation to "free movement of the faithful, provision for entry visas for clerics, honoring the privileges of tax exemption sanctioned by sacred history and the historic standing of the ownership of Church property

BERNAMA.COM
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- An Al-Arqam follower who is charged with murdering a couple admitted in the High Court here today that he had hit the victims with a piece of wood, crash helmet and mop handle to exorcise them.

The accused Muhammad Ilyas Abdul Razak, said he, however, had no intention of causing death to the couple as they were his uncle and aunt, and was unaware that his action during the exorcism would cause their deaths

"I had hit my uncle with a helmet and a piece of wood from a broken table. He did not protest, cry or say that he was in pain.
"I also asked my aunt to sit on the floor and hit her with a mop handle, the helmet and a detached table until she bled," Muhammad Ilyas said from the dock.
He said after the house had been cleaned of the blood spots, he ordered Muhammad Fauzi to pour hot water over the couple's motionless body to revive them.

"I had no intention of causing the death of my uncle and aunt as they were among the people closest to me and we loved each other. I only wanted to do good for them.
"Nobody, including my uncle and aunt, had restrained me and I only knew that they had died when the police came to arrest me," he said

Saturday, January 9, 2010

NewYorkPost
"Plaintiffs sought the exemption because they hold sincere and genuine religious beliefs, based upon Christian doctrine and Christian teachings that are contrary to vaccinating, that prevent them from injecting diseases into their bodies," the suit says.

IndianExpress.com
A Survey conducted by a group of students on the status of child rights has found that child marriage is still prevalent in Kutch district and cases of abuse of young girls and physical harassment are being reported from the urban areas.

Virtueonline.org
The covenant (section 4) talks of "interdependence" and argues that "where a shared mind has not been reached...every effort must be made to facilitate agreement." It is true that the Standing Committee may request a Church to defer a controversial action, say consecrating Mary Glasspool, a lesbian, as the next Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles, but would not the Covenant also exclude any African Anglican bishop practicing or promoting female circumcision? Why infer that homosexuals are the only persons at risk of breaking up the communion.

* A devout Muslim, Maj. Nidal Hasan, the accused gunman in the Fort Hood massacre, prompts a review of the role of Islam in terrorism.

* Abortion doctor George Tiller is shot to death at his Wichita, Kan., church.

* Mormons in California come under attack from some gay-rights supporters because of their November 2008 efforts to outlaw gay marriage. Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire approved gay marriage, but it was overturned by Maine voters.

* Obama gives the commencement speech and receives an honorary degree at the University of Notre Dame after the Roman Catholic university becomes embroiled in debates over his abortion views.

* The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America votes to ordain gay and lesbian clergy who are in a monogamous committed relationship, prompting some conservative churches to move toward forming a new denomination.

* The recession forces cutbacks at faith-related organizations.

* The Episcopal Church's General Convention votes to end a moratorium on installing gay bishops.

CNN
"I've been through all sorts of emotions with this -- tears, anger and absolute despair," he said. "I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to let people know and, to be honest, I feel anxious about people's reactions and the effect it might have on my family."
..."I could never accept it because I knew I would never be accepted as a gay man and still achieve what I wanted to achieve in the game," he said.
..."It's pretty tough for me being the only international rugby player prepared to break the taboo. Statistically I can't be the only one, but I'm not aware of any other gay player still in the game.

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If you'd like to help out with news stories, the method we use here is very easy and takes about 10 minutes or less per news story. The stories are found automatically and sent to us, then we format them using a template and then email them to the blog.

I will write at least one researched "Featured" article a month. When I do that, I'll put it and related content in the months Featured Presentations group on the right. News articles are added to the main page daily.

Structure

I will be changing some of the sidebar elements to become 'drop-down'. Obviously this takes time away from content, but it will make the appearance less cluttered.

Notes

Why the pseudonym?

I use a pseudonym, which I change from time to time, to try to avoid the stalker problem that seems to result from reasoned criticism of Religion. My new pseudonym better represents my personality; Knowledgeable and light hearted.

Do some articles look familiar?

This blog has been constructed from material that I've contributed to other blogs over the years.

Why link to Wikipedia?

I link to Wikipedia liberally not because it's authoritative, but because it's a good place to start research and its mostly accurate. I occasionally edit Wikipedia.

Why Link to ScienceDaily.com?

I link to ScienceDaily.com because it demonstrates in real time the superiority of the scientific method in acquiring Quality Information and Knowledge. Science isn't about debunking religions, its about improving our quality of life using the resources at hand. If religions can't keep up, then they need a better strategy.

Why All the News Posts?

I track and post news articles to sample and display in real time the effect that religious and faith based decision making has on the world.

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Prayer Free Problem Solving Procedure

Over the years I've collected problem solving strategies and blended them to make this one which I have hanging in my office (in pieces with tape). Printable version

Define:
If you can't explain it clearly, you don't understand it yourself. Talk about it with other people. Engaging your speech in your thinking will help you understand it better.